


Superheroes Aren't Real

by groovyjinn



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26646178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/groovyjinn/pseuds/groovyjinn
Summary: My take on Wes Weston's origin story
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	Superheroes Aren't Real

**Author's Note:**

> Another thing that I originally posted on Tumblr and thought I'd share here as well.
> 
> Just gonna quote what I wrote back in May:
> 
> "A VERY short thing I wrote to get a feel for Wes and his motivations. I’m still not entirely happy with it, but I’ve been driving myself up the wall revising it over the past week. Might as well just post it into the void…"

Wes used to adore comic books. As a kid, he considered Superman, Spider-Man, and Batman as his friends. His best friends. No one else he knew had awesome powers like they did. And the best part: they used their powers for good. That was why he wanted to become a superhero when he grew up, just like them. Other kids at school wanted to be lame and become a doctor or firefighter, and while yeah, they do save people, heroes save much more people. Plus they were cooler.

Now, Wes had absolutely no recollection of these aspirations. His best friends were long gone, burned in a backyard fire while his father yelled at him for being so unrealistic. Nor did Wes remember how he cried for weeks after that that. 

The day he discovered Phantom, he didn’t know how to feel. Seeing him time and time again on the news, saving people…it’s gotta be a sham. It’s just not realistic. How could someon–no. How could some ghost be so freakin’ altruistic? 

Nonetheless, when Wes moved here, Amity Park loved Phantom. Still, that didn’t change his sentiments. Wes cringed every time he saw Phantom’s pictures plastered all over Paulina’s locker, or when Dash would turn into a complete fanboy with the slightest mention of him. Can’t they see what was so wrong about all this?

Eventually, he concluded that Phantom was just a ghost hiding a secret agenda. Superheroes belonged in fiction, no one could have such good pure intentions for the world. Years of reading about various conspiracies taught him that powerful people are always hiding something.

The day he discovered that Phantom was nothing more than that Fenton kid, he was furious.

From then on, every time he noticed ordinary Danny Fenton at school, all he saw was a lie. A facade. And everyone believed it so easily! Couldn’t they see that he looked exactly like Phantom, save for the eyes, hair, and clothes? At school sometimes even his eyes glowed! Dammit, even their names were almost exactly the same!

Perhaps the infuriating aspect of it all was at one point, Wes also bought into Fenton’s faked up loser persona at school. Every time some jock pummelled Fenton into a locker, Wes couldn’t help but pity him. He painted such a believable pathetic image of himself. That bastard was making a mockery of the entire school!

Wes has to do something, it has to stop before it’s too late. This isn’t the government hiding aliens in Area 51 or the New World Order orchestrating another worldwide catastrophe. He was smart enough to realize that those problems were way too big for him. Society trusts the government too deeply to realize how corrupt they are. But their trust in Phantom is still fresh, if Wes exposed him…it might actually work. People might actually listen to him this time. There’s still a chance.

From that day forth, publicizing the truth about Danny became the most important endeavour of his life. Because ultimately, superheroes aren’t real.

**Author's Note:**

> Unfortunately after this, I'm gonna have to stop my weekly Friday posting streak. But, keep an eye out for my upcoming stuff for Ectober2020!
> 
> Bug me on [Tumblr](https://srsly-messed-up-fruitloop.tumblr.com)!


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